Shavuot a Jewish Holiday that Celebrates All Things Dairy & Blintzes Recipe

Coming fifty days after Passover, Shavuot – which means “weeks” in Hebrew – commemorates the day God gave the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. It is thought to originally be an agricultural festival, and while are no specific requirements for celebrating Shavuot — unlike the many required observances for Passover, for example —there are many minhagim, or customs, associated with the joyous festival. One of the most widely held customs for Shavuot is to celebrate by eating dairy foods, especially cheese.

 

Why Dairy?

As always with Judaism, there are several explanations for why it is traditional to eat dairy foods on Shavuot. First, Shavuot usually occurs in late spring or early summer, which was when, in pre-industrial times, cows would be giving birth and farmers would have a ready supply of milk. For the same reason, spring was the traditional time of year for cheese-making – so farmers could preserve the abundance of milk to last for the rest of the year. But beyond this very practical explanation, there are several religious ones as well.

One explanation for why it is traditional to eat dairy on Shavuot is that once the Israelites received the Torah and learned about the kosher laws, they could not eat any of their meat, which would not have been butchered properly. So they simply ate dairy until they were able to  follow the laws for the consumption of meat. There are other explanations too, such as that eating dairy symbolizes how the Israelites were promised a “land of milk and honey.”

 

Typical Dairy Dishes

Whatever the reason, the tradition of eating dairy foods on Shavuot is nearly universal among the Jewish people. All around the diaspora, there are traditional Shavuot foods that incorporate different dairy products and cheeses. Among Ashkenazi Jews, or those from eastern and northern Europe, popular dairy dishes for Shavuot include cheesecake, cheese-filled crêpes called blintzes, noodle kugel made with sour cream or cottage cheese, and triangular, cheese-filled dumplings called kreplach.

For Sephardic Jews – the descendants of those who fled the Iberian peninsula in the 1500’s to the Mediterranean, North Africa or the Levant – the traditional Shavuot dairy foods are a bit different and include a lot of savory, filled pastries. Bourekas, which are flaky, stuffed pastries that originated in Turkey, are a favorite at Shavuot, especially those filled with feta or or other mild white cheese. In Israel, families with Spanish and Italian heritage often serve pasta filled with a local sheep’s milk cheese on Shavuot. 

 

Blintzes

In America, one of the most popular Shavuot foods – besides cheesecake, natch – are blintzes. Blintzes are a sweet treat of thin pancakes — similar to a French crêpe — filled with soft, fresh cheese and rolled up like a little package. Once assembled, blintzes are usually fried in butter and topped with jam or sour cream – for even more dairy – and garnished with a dusting of powdered sugar and some fresh fruit. One of the reasons that blintzes in particular are a beloved Shavuot food is that two blintzes laid side-by-side resemble the two tablets Moses received on Mount Sinai.

Jewish grandmothers would have you believe that making blintzes is an enormous production, but it is just not true. Blintzes are only a production if you insist on making them by the hundreds, which, in their defense, grandmothers used to do. But today’s cooks can simply make enough for brunch or dinner. And in the era of nonstick crepe pans, they are not even particularly difficult.

That being said, there are a few helpful tips to know when making blintzes. First: plan ahead. The batter for the pancakes needs to rest for at least two hours before cooking. I recommend making the batter the night before you plan to serve the blintzes, especially if you are serving them at brunch, which is quite common. The batter will keep it in the refrigerator overnight and that is one less thing to worry about in the morning. Second, remember when I said that the pancakes for the blintzes are like crêpes? That’s true, but there is one key difference. Traditionally, crêpes are cooked on both sides while the pancakes for blintzes are only cooked on one side. This actually saves time and is less fussy than cooking crêpes.

 

Cheeses for Blintzes

Traditionally, Jewish cooks would have used pot cheese, which is cottage cheese with some of the whey pressed out, or farmer’s cheese, which is a soft, fresh cheese with small curds, to fill their blintzes. Farmers’ cheese can be hard to source today (look for it in Eastern European specialty markets), but you can substitute quark, which is a German fresh cheese, or even small-curd cottage cheese, so long as you allow it to drain for several hours before using. Editor’s note: Mexican requesón is another good option.

Farmer’s cheese is quite tangy, which some people love, but others find it off-putting. Kids, I have learned, prefer the mild taste and smooth texture of fresh ricotta as a filling for blintzes. In the recipe below, I give you instructions for both a traditional farmers’ cheese filling as well as a sweet ricotta filling that is a favorite with my family. 

Even if you are not celebrating Shavuot, cheese blintzes are a special dish to serve at a festive breakfast or brunch. Topped with jam and seasonal fresh fruit, blintzes are a delightful vegetarian dish and a nice break from all the egg-based dishes that one typically sees at brunch.

 

Cheese Blintzes Recipe

Makes 8 blintzes

Crêpes:

1 cup whole milk

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Sweet Ricotta Filling:

15 oz. whole milk ricotta

1 Tablespoon sugar

Zest of one lemon

Pinch salt

Farmers Cheese Filling:

16 oz. of farmers cheese*

¼ cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt

1 egg yolk

Pinch nutmeg

Salt and white pepper to taste

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter for cooking

Jam and/or sour cream for serving

1. To make the batter, whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add the flour, sugar and salt and whisk until the batter is thoroughly combined and no longer lumpy. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

2. To make the crepes, heat an 8 or 10-inch nonstick crêpe pan over high heat. (You may use a nonstick skillet if you do not own a crêpe pan.) While the pan is heating, prepare four clean dishtowels or four squares of parchment paper to hold the cooked crêpes. If the crêpe batter has separated, whisk it until it is smooth and combined.

3. Once the pan is hot, turn heat down to medium. Add a scant 1/3 cup of the batter to the hot pan and immediately tilt the pan and swirl the batter until it reaches to the edges. The batter should thinly coat the bottom of the pan.

4. Cook the crêpe undisturbed for 40 seconds to 1 minute, until edges are lightly browned and release easily from pan and the center is dry. Using your fingers or a thin, flexible spatula, loosen one edge and carefully remove the crêpe to the dishtowel or parchment paper. (Do not use tongs, which may puncture or tear the delicate crêpe. If the bottoms of the crêpes are browning before the center is dry, flip them over and briefly cook the underside, then add slightly less batter to the pan going forward.)

5. Repeat until you have used all of the batter. You should have 8 crêpes. (The crêpes may be prepared up to a day ahead and refrigerated until needed.)

6. To make either filling, mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. 

7. To fill the blintzes, place one crêpe, cooked side down, on a clean dishtowel or board and spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling just below the center of the crepe, leaving a border on the bottom and each side. Fold the bottom layer over the filling, then fold in each side, enclosing the filling completely, and roll up like a burrito. (Filled, uncooked blintzes can be stored for up to 1 day. Place the filled crêpes seam-side down in a baking dish and refrigerate until needed.) 

8. To cook the blintzes, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 12-inch, non-stick skillet. Place four blintzes in the skillet and cook over medium heat until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the blintzes and brown on other side, about 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining blintzes, adding more butter to the skillet as necessary.

9. Serve blintzes immediately topped with jam, sour cream and fresh sliced fruit. 

* if unavailable substitute quark, ricotta, drained cottage cheese, or requesón

Note: Filled, uncooked blintzes can be frozen for up to 3 months. To freeze, spread the blintzes on a baking sheet and place in the freezer. Once frozen solid, they can be packed into a gallon-sized freezer bag for long-term storage.